System for propagating messages for purposes of demand response

ABSTRACT

A system having a utility, a communications intermediary and demand response resources. The utility may be connected to the communications intermediary via a network. The demand response resources may be connected to the communications intermediary via another network. A single dispatch destined for the demand response resources may be sent to the communications intermediary. The dispatch may be disaggregated at the communications intermediary into a multitude of dispatches which may be dispersed to their respective destined demand response resources. The demand response resources may send telemetries to the communications intermediary that aggregates the telemetries into a single telemetry. The single telemetry may be sent to the utility.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure pertains to pertains to a demand response system,and particularly to communications between a utility and demand responseresources.

SUMMARY

The disclosure reveals a system having a utility, a communicationsintermediary and demand response resources. The utility may be connectedto the communications intermediary via a network. The demand responseresources may be connected to the communications intermediary viaanother network. A single dispatch destined for the demand responseresources may be sent to the communications intermediary. The dispatchmay be disaggregated at the communications intermediary into a multitudeof dispatches which may be dispersed to their respective destined demandresponse resources. The demand response resources may send telemetriesto the communications intermediary that aggregates the telemetries intoa single telemetry. The single telemetry may be sent to the utility.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an example interaction between a utility and ademand response resource;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of a demand response system showing an examplenetwork connection between a utility and demand response resources of acustomer domain;

FIG. 3 is a diagram of a demand response system having a communicationsintermediary between a utility and demand response sources; and

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing components of the communicationsintermediary.

DESCRIPTION

The present system and approach may incorporate one or more processors,computers, controllers, user interfaces, wireless and/or wireconnections, and/or the like, in an implementation described and/orshown herein.

This description may provide one or more illustrative and specificexamples or ways of implementing the present system and approach. Theremay be numerous other examples or ways of implementing the system andapproach.

An effective resource is especially critical when communities areconfronted with a scarcity of a resource in question. It may be notedthat “resource” is a term that may have several senses or meanings.“Resource” may refer to energy, commodity, product, load, and so on. Inanother sense or meaning, “resource” such as a demand response (DR)resource may refer to a customer, a user, facility, and so on. In thefirst mentioned sense, it may refer to electricity, water, gas andnatural resources such as oil. A definition of resource may be extendedto include such things such as water quality and air quality. After all,adequate water quality and air quality appear necessary to support aself-sustaining environment.

Resource management, in both senses of “resource”, may be necessary sothat systems can optimize the use of a limited resource. Currently,there are various systems for managing resources in various environmentssuch as buildings, apartments, industrial facilities, and computingsystems.

One mechanism that may be used to encourage customers to reduce demandand thereby reduce the peak demand for electricity may be referred to asdemand response (DR). DR may refer to management of the demand bycustomers in response to supply conditions. For example, electricitycustomers may reduce their consumption at critical times and/or costs inresponse to market prices. These customers may be regarded as DRresources.

DR programs may require that a utility and/or independent serviceoperator (ISO) deliver DR signals to participants via a communicationschannel. The programs may relate to a distribution of resources such as,but not limited to, electricity, water and natural gas.

DR signals may incorporate business level information, such as prices,reliability and shed levels. At some point, from the utility/ISO toloads in a facility, the business level information sent by theutility/ISO should be processed and used to execute a DR strategy andprogram for the facility.

DR programs may take many forms. They may differ from normal rates andtariffs in that the DR programs are designed to allow the utility/ISOtake specific actions to influence the load profiles of facilities thatparticipate in the DR programs at peak consumption times or periods on agrid. The peak consumption periods may cause critical grid reliabilityissues which should be addressed, but they may also trigger economicfactors where the price of electricity or other power commodity reachesa critical level which may be ameliorated by reducing the overallconsumption on the grid during those periods. The critical periods, inwhich the utility/ISO needs to influence a load profile of a facility,may be referred to as DR events.

A manner in which a utility/ISO may influence a load profile of afacility is to send out a DR signal which is specific to the DR event.DR signals may contain information related to business, controllingloads, and so on. There may be an automated DR where the DR signals thatare sent out by the utility/ISO are responded to in an automatedfashion. Loads within a facility may ultimately be affected by DR eventsvia DR signals to which the facility acts upon or responds. The term“facility” may refer to virtually any location in which there are loadsinfluenced by DR events. Where there are such loads may be regarded as a“DR resource”. The term “utility” may be used in a general sense torefer to a utility, independent system operator, service provider, andthe like. It may be appropriate to use the term “demand side resource”in order to define a demand response resource.

A computer or controller may incorporate one or more inputs, aprocessor, a user interface incorporating a keyboard, a display and atouch screen, a memory, external connections such as an internet, one ormore outputs, and so forth. The computer may be utilized with virtuallyall items in and pertinent to FIGS. 1-4.

An implementation of DR signals within a “demand response managementsystem” (DRMS) 10 is shown in a diagram of FIG. 1. System 10 andassociated software may be effected and operated with one or morecomputers/controllers (controllers) 31, 32 and respective connections.The DRMS may be a system that is used by utilities/ISO's to manage theoperation of DR programs. A focus of the DRMS may be on the operationalaspects of managing the selection, signaling and monitoring of the DRresources that are participating in DR programs. The DRMS may bespecifically designed to manage operations of automated DR programs.

There may be various types of interactions that could occur between theutility/ISO and a DR resource as part of a DR program. The diagram inFIG. 1 reveals an example interaction between a utility/ISO 31 and a DRresource (customer) 32. There may be DR signals 33 going fromutility/ISO 31 to DR resource 32. There may be DR resource information34, such as load measurements, going from DR resource 32 to utility/ISO31. Alternatively, DR signals 33 may be regarded as dispatches 33.Likewise, DR information 34, such as load measurements, may be regardedas telemetry or telemetries 34.

Terms such as customer, client, user, participant, DR resource, and liketerms, may be used, interchangeably or distinct from one another,depending on a context of a pertinent portion of a description or aclaim.

A description of DR signals 33 may be noted. At a highest level, theremay often be some sort of grid condition, be it economic or gridreliability in nature, which triggers a so-called DR event that requiressome sort of interaction between the utility/ISO 31 and its customers32. This interaction may eventually trigger some sort of load controltaking place at a customer's facility. The interaction between theutility/ISO 31 and the customer 32 may be mediated by DR signals 33 andDR resource signals 34, i.e., information such as measurements. Signals33 and 34 may represent communications between utility/ISO 31, and theDR resource or customer 32. Information contained within DR signals 33may dictate where much of the decision-making takes place relative to,for example, in how the initial grid condition, which triggered the DRevent, results in the eventual load control.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of a DR system 20 showing an example interfacebetween a utility/ISO 11 and DR resources 17 of a customer domain 12.Utility/ISO 11 may incorporate a dispatch system 13. Dispatch system 13may send dispatches 14 via a private network 15 to a DR interface 16 ofone or more DR resources 17 in customer domain 12. Dispatch 14 mayindicate a control of loads 18. A DR resource 17 may in turn sendtelemetry 19 about, for instance, load 18 usage from interface 16 vianetwork 15 to dispatch system 13 of utility/ISO 11.

Demand response resources 17 may interact with utilities/ISO's 11 inmany DR systems. Examples of this way may be so called ancillaryservices markets in which ISO's 11 can interface customers' resources 17to their automatic generator control (AGC) systems where the AGC sendsdispatches 14 to resources 17 and receives telemetry 19 from theresources 17 in real time. The technical requirements in terms of theprotocols (e.g., ICCP, DNP3, OpenADR) and private network interfaces 15(e.g., ECN) that are used to communicate between the utility/ISO 11 andDR resources 17 may be challenging to implement. In some cases, DRsystems 20 may be redesigned to interface to very large generationresources and thus the cost and complexity of the interface could bejustified since the cost may be small compared to the size of theresource. As smaller demand side resources become available to bedispatched by a utility/ISO, then what may be needed incorporates a morecost effective way to interface with the resources 17 without makingwholesale changes to the existing methodologies used by the utility/ISO11.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of a system 30. System 30 may have a private network15 that conveys just one dispatch 14 and telemetry 19 from utility/ISO11 to customer domain 12. Also, a DR communications intermediary (DRCI)mechanism 21 may be added to customer domain 12 which translatesdispatch 14 into multiple dispatches 14 and telemetry 19 into multipletelemetries 19. Dispatches 14 and telemetries 19 may go via a publicnetwork 22, such as an internet, to and from, respectively, DR interface16 of each DR resource 17. Public network 22 may have a utility/ISO 11specific network and protocols. DRCI mechanism 21 may provide fortranslation between utility/ISO 11 and customer domain 12. Publicnetwork 22 may also constitute a customer specific network andprotocols. Networks 15 and 22 may be private and public or vice versa.Or networks 15 and 22 may both be private or public. Or only one network15 or 22 may be incorporate and be private or public. Or there may bemore than two networks which are public, private or a combination ofprivate and public. Or there may be no networks incorporated in DRsystem 30.

System 30 may reveal a more cost effective way for interfacing existingutility/ISO systems 11 to smaller demand side resources 17 that cannotbear the cost and complexity of the existing interface requirements.System 30 may accomplish this by means of DR communications intermediarymechanism 21 that can bear the cost and complexity of a single interfaceon the utility/ISO 11 side that is translated into multiple interfacesand transactions on the customer side or domain 12 that are lower costin nature. Thus, the high cost of the single interface on theutility/ISO side may be amortized over the multiple lower costinterfaces on the customer side, making the overall interface to theutility/ISO 11 for each resource more cost effective.

In addition, DR communications intermediary mechanism 21 may becontrolled and owned by the customer side entities which enable theaddition of value-added functions such as resource aggregation and loadresponse optimization to be performed at the intermediary system.

Examples of customer owned DR resources 17 that may benefit from thisarchitecture incorporate residential customers with communicatingthermostats which interface to some vendor's cloud based system viaproprietary protocols which in turn may interface to utility/ISO 11 viaa single communications interface, and commercial and industrialcustomers with multiple locations or campuses, virtually all of whichmay need to communicate with utility/ISO 11 for the purposes of DR.

The diagram of FIG. 3 also reveals architecture within which DRcommunications intermediary (DRCI) 21 may operate. In general, DRCImechanism 21 may perform the following items. Mechanism 21 may translatedispatches (DR signals) 14 and telemetries 19 from a protocol used byutility/ISO 11 to one used by the DR resources 17. DRCI mechanism 21 maypropagate messages from whatever network or transport approach used byutility/ISO 11 to that used by DR resources 17. DRCI mechanism 21 mayalso direct DR signals 14 to the appropriate DR resources 17 andfurthermore make any modifications to the DR signal that are specific tothe respective resource 17.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of the DR system 30 with specifics of DRCI mechanism21. One or more networks 15 and 22 are not necessarily shown in theFigure. Dispatch 14 and telemetry 19 may proceed between utility/ISO 11and a utility/ISO interface 23 within DRCI mechanism 21. Dispatch 14 andtelemetry 19 may proceed between utility/ISO interface 23 and a dataconcentration/aggregation module 24, between dataconcentration/aggregation module 24 and signal translation and DR logic25, and between signal translation and DR logic 25 and a DR resourceinterface 26 of DRCI 21. Customer preferences 27 may be provided to dataconcentration/aggregation module 24 and to signal translation and DRlogic 25. Dispatches 14 and telemetries 19 may proceed between DRresource interface 26 and DR resources 17.

A utility/ISO interface 23 may allow DRCI 21 to communicate with theutility/ISO 11 to both receive DR signals 14 and to send telemetry 19.DRCI 21 may use whatever protocol is needed by the utility/ISO 11 tocommunicate, such as ICCP, DNP3, and OpenADR, among others. In addition,DRCI 21 may use whatever networking technology and infrastructure isneeded by utility/ISO 11. In some cases, the technology may be IPcommunications over the internet, but in other cases it may be a privatenetwork such as a so-called “Energy Communications Network” (ECN) usedby some ISO's. Various protocols used by utility/ISO 11 may havedifferent ways of modeling and formatting the dispatches or DR signals14 and DR information or telemetry 19. The utility/ISO 11 may beresponsible for translating data to/from the protocols into a form thatcan be used by DRCI 21 for its various operations.

A data concentration/aggregation module 24 may parse the contents of DRsignals or dispatches 14 to determine which DR resource 17 that thesignal or dispatch may be targeting and provide any necessary mappingbetween DR resource 17 identifiers in signal 14 used by utility/ISO 11to those used by the DRCI 21.

In some cases, DR resources 17 may be explicitly referenced in a DRsignal or dispatch 14 by means of an identifier. It may be that a singleDR signal 14 may contain references to multiple DR resources 17 suchthat each of the resources 17 referenced will receive signal 14.Furthermore, all of telemetries 19 received from each of the resources17 may be transmitted to utility/ISO 11. Also in some cases, separatetelemetry 19 messages may be bundled together in order to make thecommunications with utility/ISO 11 more efficient.

In other cases, DR resources 17 may be implied because of prioragreements between owners of DR resources 17 and utility/ISO 11. Anexample of this might be where all of DR resources 17 have beenaggregated together as a group in some fashion so that only a single DRsignal or singular dispatch 14 is sent by utility/ISO 11 to anaggregated group of resources instead of as a separate signal to eachindividual DR resource 17. In such a case, utility/ISO 11 may thendisaggregate such signal and assure that each individual resource of theaggregate group receives a DR signal or dispatch 14. Likewise, DRCI 21may receive a telemetry 19 from each individual DR resource 17 andaggregate the telemetries from resources 17 together into a singletelemetry or stream 19 designated for utility/ISO 11.

Customer preferences 27 may be used to determine how mapping is donebetween DR signals or dispatches 14 received by the DRCI 21 and DRresources 17 that will receive signals or dispatches 14. For example,there may be a set of configuration parameters that define how DRresources 17 are aggregated together to form an aggregate group.

Signal translation and DR logic 25 may be noted. DR signals 14 sent byutility/ISO 11 may take many general forms such as incentives and/orprices that are intended to influence a DR resource's behavior, anddispatch instructions that indicate an amount of electricity (i.e.,power or energy) that each DR resource 17 should be consuming. Sometimesthese instructions may give specific power levels and sometimes they maybe expressed as an amount of power adjusted either up or down from somebaseline. Another form may be explicit load control instructions, suchas turning certain devices on or off. Signal translation and DR logic 25may take a DR signal or dispatch 14 transmitted by the utility/ISO 11and translate the information contained within it in a manner that isspecific to a DR resource 17 that will receive it.

To recap, a demand response message conveyance arrangement mayincorporate a demand response (DR) communications intermediarymechanism, a utility/independent service operator (ISO) connectable tothe DR communications intermediary mechanism, and two or more DRresources connectable to the DR communications intermediary mechanism.

One or more singular dispatches may be sent by the utility/ISO to the DRcommunications intermediary mechanism. Each of the one or more singulardispatches may be processed by the DR communications intermediarymechanism into two or more dispatches designated for the two or more DRresources, respectively. Two or more telemetries may be sent by the twoor more DR resources, respectively, to the DR communicationsintermediary. The two or more telemetries may be processed by the DRcommunications intermediary mechanism into a singular telemetry. Thesingular telemetry may be sent by the DR communications intermediary tothe utility/ISO.

The arrangement may further incorporate a network for conveying asingular dispatch from the utility/ISO to the DR communicationsintermediary mechanism, and for conveying a singular telepathy from theDR communications intermediary mechanism to the utility/ISO.

The arrangement may further incorporate a network for conveying two ormore dispatches from the DR communications intermediary mechanism to thetwo or more DR resources, respectively, and for conveying two or moretelemetries from the two or more resources, respectively, to the DRcommunications intermediary mechanism.

The DR communications intermediary mechanism may incorporate a firstmodule for disaggregating a singular dispatch into two or moredispatches having identifiers for transmission of the two or moredispatches to two or more DR resources, respectively, according to theidentifiers, and a second module for aggregating the two or moretelepathies from the two or more DR resources, respectively, into onetelepathy for transmission to the utility/ISO.

A dispatch from the utility/ISO may influence a load of a DR resource. Atelemetry from a DR resource may provide information about the DRresource to the utility/ISO.

An approach for propagating messages may incorporate providing autility/independent service operator (ISO), conveying one dispatch fromthe utility/ISO to a demand response (DR) communications intermediary,disaggregating the one dispatch into one or more dispatches, conveyingthe one or more dispatches to one or more DR resources, respectively,conveying one or more telemetries from the one or more DR resources,respectively, to the DR communications intermediary, aggregating the oneor more telemetries into one telemetry at the DR communicationsintermediary, and conveying the one telemetry to the utility.

The approach may further incorporate conveying the one dispatch from theutility/ISO to the DR communications intermediary via a network, andconveying the one telemetry from the DR communications intermediary tothe utility/ISO via a network. The network may be private or public.

The approach may further incorporate conveying the dispatch from the DRcommunications intermediary to the one or more DR resources via anetwork, and conveying the telemetry from the DR communicationsintermediary via a network. The network may be public or private.

The DR communications intermediary may incorporate a utility/ISOinterface connected to the utility/ISO, a data concentration/aggregationmodule connected to the utility/ISO interface, a signal translation andDR logic connected to the data concentration/aggregation module, and aDR resource interface connected to the signal translation and DR logicand to the one or more DR resources.

The DR communications intermediary may further incorporate a customerpreferences module that is connectable to the dataconcentration/aggregation module.

The customer preferences module may permit a determination of one ormore items selected from a group consisting of styles of mapping betweenthe dispatches received by the DR communications intermediary from theutility/ISO and the DR resources that are recipients of the dispatches,and between the telemetries received by the DR communicationsintermediary from the DR resources and the telemetries received by theutility/ISO.

The one dispatch from the utility/ISO to the DR communicationsintermediary, may contain one or more references to one or more DRresources. The DR communications intermediary may parse the one or morereferences contained in the one dispatch such that the one or more DRresources of a reference receive a dispatch containing the reference.The one or more DR resources may send one or more telemetries to the DRcommunications intermediary. The telemetries may be bundled together bythe communications intermediary as one telemetry that is conveyed to theutility/ISO.

A demand response message propagating system may incorporate autility/independent service operator (ISO), a first network connectableto the utility/ISO, and a customer domain connected to the firstnetwork. The customer domain may incorporate a communicationsintermediary connected to the first network and a second network, andone or more demand response (DR) resources connected to the secondnetwork.

A single dispatch may be sent from the utility/ISO to the communicationsintermediary. A single telemetry may be received by the utility/ISO fromthe communications intermediary. The single dispatch received by thecommunications intermediary may be disaggregated at the communicationsintermediary into one or more separate dispatches and be sentrespectively to one or more DR resources. One or more separatetelemetries may be received by the communications intermediary from theone or more DR resources. The one or more separate telemetries may beaggregated by the communications intermediary into the single telemetryand sent to the utility/ISO.

The utility/ISO may incorporate a dispatch system which generates andsends the single dispatch and receives and processes the singletelemetry. A DR resource may incorporate a DR interface and one or moreloads controlled or monitored by the DR interface. The DR interface mayreceive separate dispatches and send separate telemetries.

The separate dispatches may be sent to the one or more DR resources fromthe communications intermediary via the second network. The separatetelemetries may be sent from the one or more DR resources to thecommunications intermediary via the second network. The single dispatchmay be sent from the utility/ISO to the communications intermediary viathe first network. The single telemetry may be sent from thecommunications intermediary to the utility/ISO via the first network.

The first network may be a private network. The second network may be apublic network.

The communications intermediary may incorporate a utility/ISO interfacehaving a connection for a single dispatch from the utility/ISO and asingle telemetry to the utility/ISO, a data concentration/aggregationmodule connected to the utility/ISO interface, a signal translation andDR logic module connected to the data concentration/aggregation module,and a DR resource interface connected to the signal translation and DRlogic module and to the one or more DR resources.

The single dispatch from the utility/ISO to the communicationsintermediary, may contain one or more identifiers of the one or more DRresources, respectively. The communications intermediary may parse theone or more identifiers contained in the single dispatch such that eachDR resource of the one or more DR resources of an identifier receivesone or more separate dispatches containing the identifier correspondingto the respective DR resource. The one or more DR resources may send oneor more separate telemetries to the communications intermediary. Theseparate telemetries may be bundled together by the communicationsintermediary into a single telemetry that is conveyed to theutility/ISO.

In the present specification, some of the matter may be of ahypothetical or prophetic nature although stated in another manner ortense.

Although the present system and/or approach has been described withrespect to at least one illustrative example, many variations andmodifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art uponreading the specification. It is therefore the intention that theappended claims be interpreted as broadly as possible in view of therelated art to include all such variations and modifications.

What is claimed is:
 1. A demand response message conveyance arrangementcomprising: a demand response (DR) communications intermediarymechanism; a utility/independent service operator (ISO) connectable tothe DR communications intermediary mechanism; and two or more DRresources connectable to the DR communications intermediary mechanism;and wherein: one or more singular dispatches are sent by the utility/ISOto the DR communications intermediary mechanism; each of the one or moresingular dispatches are processed by the DR communications intermediarymechanism into two or more dispatches designated for the two or more DRresources, respectively; two or more telemetries are sent by the two ormore DR resources, respectively, to the DR communications intermediary;the two or more telemetries are processed by the DR communicationsintermediary mechanism into a singular telemetry; and the singulartelemetry is sent by the DR communications intermediary to theutility/ISO.
 2. The arrangement of claim 1, further comprising a networkfor conveying a singular dispatch from the utility/ISO to the DRcommunications intermediary mechanism, and for conveying a singulartelepathy from the DR communications intermediary mechanism to theutility/ISO.
 3. The arrangement of claim 1, further comprising a networkfor conveying two or more dispatches from the DR communicationsintermediary mechanism to the two or more DR resources, respectively,and for conveying two or more telemetries from the two or moreresources, respectively, to the DR communications intermediarymechanism.
 4. The arrangement of claim 1, wherein the DR communicationsintermediary mechanism comprises: a first module for disaggregating asingular dispatch into two or more dispatches having identifiers fortransmission of the two or more dispatches to two or more DR resources,respectively, according to the identifiers; and a second module foraggregating the two or more telepathies from the two or more DRresources, respectively, into one telepathy for transmission to theutility/ISO.
 5. The arrangement of claim 4, wherein: a dispatch from theutility/ISO can influence a load of a DR resource; and a telemetry froma DR resource can provide information about the DR resource to theutility/ISO.
 6. A method for propagating messages comprising: providinga utility/independent service operator (ISO); conveying one dispatchfrom the utility/ISO to a demand response (DR) communicationsintermediary; disaggregating the one dispatch into one or moredispatches; conveying the one or more dispatches to one or more DRresources, respectively; conveying one or more telemetries from the oneor more DR resources, respectively, to the DR communicationsintermediary; aggregating the one or more telemetries into one telemetryat the DR communications intermediary; and conveying the one telemetryto the utility.
 7. The method of claim 6, further comprising: conveyingthe one dispatch from the utility/ISO to the DR communicationsintermediary via a network; and conveying the one telemetry from the DRcommunications intermediary to the utility/ISO via a network; andwherein the network is private or public.
 8. The method of claim 6,further comprising: conveying the dispatch from the DR communicationsintermediary to the one or more DR resources via a network; andconveying the telemetry from the DR communications intermediary via anetwork; and wherein the network is public or private.
 9. The method ofclaim 6, wherein the DR communications intermediary comprises: autility/ISO interface connected to the utility/ISO; a dataconcentration/aggregation module connected to the utility/ISO interface;a signal translation and DR logic connected to the dataconcentration/aggregation module; and a DR resource interface connectedto the signal translation and DR logic and to the one or more DRresources.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the DR communicationsintermediary further comprises a customer preferences module that isconnectable to the data concentration/aggregation module.
 11. The methodof claim 10, wherein the customer preferences module permits adetermination of one or more items selected from a group consisting ofstyles of mapping between the dispatches received by the DRcommunications intermediary from the utility/ISO and the DR resourcesthat are recipients of the dispatches, and between the telemetriesreceived by the DR communications intermediary from the DR resources andthe telemetries received by the utility/ISO.
 12. The method of claim 6,wherein: the one dispatch from the utility/ISO to the DR communicationsintermediary, contains one or more references to one or more DRresources; the DR communications intermediary parses the one or morereferences contained in the one dispatch such that the one or more DRresources of a reference receive a dispatch containing the reference;the one or more DR resources send one or more telemetries to the DRcommunications intermediary; and the telemetries are bundled together bythe communications intermediary as one telemetry that is conveyed to theutility/ISO.
 13. A demand response message propagating systemcomprising: a utility/independent service operator (ISO); a firstnetwork connectable to the utility/ISO; and a customer domain connectedto the first network; and wherein the customer domain comprises: acommunications intermediary connected to the first network and a secondnetwork; and one or more demand response (DR) resources connected to thesecond network.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein: a single dispatchis sent from the utility/ISO to the communications intermediary; asingle telemetry is received by the utility/ISO from the communicationsintermediary; the single dispatch received by the communicationsintermediary is disaggregated at the communications intermediary intoone or more separate dispatches and are sent respectively to one or moreDR resources; one or more separate telemetries are received by thecommunications intermediary from the one or more DR resources; and theone or more separate telemetries are aggregated by the communicationsintermediary into the single telemetry and sent to the utility/ISO. 15.The system of claim 13, wherein the utility/ISO comprises a dispatchsystem which generates and sends the single dispatch and receives andprocesses the single telemetry.
 16. The system of claim 14 wherein a DRresource comprises: a DR interface; and one or more loads controlled ormonitored by the DR interface; and wherein the DR interface receivesseparate dispatches and sends separate telemetries.
 17. The system ofclaim 14, wherein: the separate dispatches are sent to the one or moreDR resources from the communications intermediary via the secondnetwork; the separate telemetries are sent from the one or more DRresources to the communications intermediary via the second network; thesingle dispatch is sent from the utility/ISO to the communicationsintermediary via the first network; and the single telemetry is sentfrom the communications intermediary to the utility/ISO via the firstnetwork.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein: the first network is aprivate network; and the second network is a public network.
 19. Thesystem of claim 13, wherein the communications intermediary comprises: autility/ISO interface having a connection for a single dispatch from theutility/ISO and a single telemetry to the utility/ISO; a dataconcentration/aggregation module connected to the utility/ISO interface;a signal translation and DR logic module connected to the dataconcentration/aggregation module; and a DR resource interface connectedto the signal translation and DR logic module and to the one or more DRresources.
 20. The system of claim 13, wherein: the single dispatch fromthe utility/ISO to the communications intermediary, contains one or moreidentifiers of the one or more DR resources, respectively; thecommunications intermediary parses the one or more identifiers containedin the single dispatch such that each DR resource of the one or more DRresources of an identifier receives one or more separate dispatchescontaining the identifier corresponding to the respective DR resource;the one or more DR resources send one or more separate telemetries tothe communications intermediary; and the separate telemetries arebundled together by the communications intermediary into a singletelemetry that is conveyed to the utility/ISO.